


Grow Fonder

by KagekaNecavi



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cap_Ironman Tiny Reverse Bang, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 19:23:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7374295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KagekaNecavi/pseuds/KagekaNecavi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several months have passed since the events in Siberia and Steve misses Tony with an ache he doesn't quite understand. Then the phone rings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grow Fonder

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt [Breakout](http://capim-tinybang.tumblr.com/post/146450289947/cap-im-tiny-rb-round-2-breakout) for the Tiny Reverse Bang.

When the phone finally rang it was midmorning in Wakanda. Steve always kept the phone on him or nearby, with the volume up as high as possible so he could hear it if Tony ever actually called. He kept it charged up, even when he let his personal cell phone’s battery get low. There was no way he was going to let that phone go unanswered.

Honestly sometimes he wondered if he was so diligent about it because he felt guilty. He’d taken all of the Avengers from Tony except for Rhodey and Vision, and he knew that it left Tony vulnerable and weak. Now with Rhodey so badly hurt Tony was in even more danger than ever. Steve didn’t trust Secretary Ross or any of the other people in charge of the accords. From the news they got there in Wakanda, though, Tony and Vision were doing as good a job as they could under the circumstances.

So the phone ringing in and of itself wasn’t a surprise. He was expecting Tony to need help eventually.

The first surprise was that when it rang, it was around 3 am in New York. Though that wasn’t as much of a surprise as it could have been. Tony had always kept odd hours. Between nightmares and his love affair with coffee and the inventing binges that he’d gone on, Tony could easily be up until dawn and then manage to still do whatever it was he did at Stark Industries - Steve wasn’t really sure, to be honest, considering Pepper was still the CEO - the next day and go on a mission as Iron Man afterwards. Typically he ended up falling asleep on the nearest flat surface after that, but he was still able to do it.

The second surprise - the [italics]true[italics] surprise - was the voice on the other end.

When the phone rang it startled Steve. He'd been at the end of his workout, running through the jungles that bordered the palace. The ringtone - something loud and shrill, intended to get his attention because half the time he didn't realize those musical ringtones were phones at all - made him jerking and stumble in shock. When he realized what it was he very nearly dropped it in his haste to pull it out of his pocket. Finally! He and Tony would talk again. Probably about an emergency, but it was a start.

“Hello?” Steve said, and there was silence for long enough on the other end that Steve started to worry. He didn't want to say Tony’s name, just in case the phone had been found by someone who might not know it was Tony's and saying Tony's name could get him in trouble.

There was a frustrated sigh on the other end, sounding distant, and a voice said quietly, “Goddamn it, Tony.” The voice was familiar but he couldn’t quite place it because the words were distant enough that Steve thought the phone was probably at about arm's length away from the speaker. After another long pause, they said, much clearer and obviously to Steve, “Tony told me where this thing was and to use it if things ever went to shit. You were about the last person I expected to be on the other end, Rogers.”

Why was James Rhodes calling and not Tony? What had gone so wrong that Rhodey felt he needed back-up? A twisting feeling settled in Steve's gut and he sprinted back to the palace. “What’s going on? Where’s Tony?” he asked, frantic.

“Tony is in trouble, obviously, or else I wouldn’t have called you,” Rhodey’s voice was cold and icy, and Steve winced a little. He reached the outer walls of the palace and continued inside, dodging people as he ran towards the conference rooms that T’Challa tended to use to meet with diplomats and officials from the country when he was working. Steve was about to snap at him to continue and just tell him what the hell was going on when Rhodey did, indeed, continue talking, “Tony got taken. I’m not sure by who yet - they were costumed, though, dressed up, using powers. Obviously playing super villain to our superheroes.”

“Shit,” Steve said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He burst into one room to see T’Challa there, speaking with several community leaders, all of whom turned to him with surprised expressions at his intrusion. Not to mention the reaction of their bodyguards.

T’Challa gave him a firm look but Steve refused to be so easily intimidated. He pointed to the phone and mouthed ‘Avengers.’ The glare softened and T’Challa nodded and turned back to what he was doing. Steve was satisfied with that - if he hadn’t sought T’Challa out it may have been days before he managed to speak with him, so he didn’t regret interrupting. However, he did realize that T’Challa was king here and did need to see to the needs of his people first. He would come find Steve as soon as he could. So he backed out of the room and found the nearest empty room to continue his conversation with Rhodey.

“How did this happen? Didn’t he have backup?” Steve asked, sitting down and then immediately standing and starting to pace.

“We're being run absolutely ragged. Tony doesn't want to pull that Spider kid into anything big without more training so it's just the three of us and I'm not cleared for field duty yet. Vision and Tony have had to handle everything by themselves and today they each ended up on separate missions.” Steve felt a stab of guilt at Rhodey's words. Only having two Avengers on missions was a recipe for disaster. They couldn't help that two was all they had available, but Steve was starting to feel guilty for taking the others away.

Steve realized Rhodey was waiting for him to say something so he said the first thing that popped into his head. “If you're not cleared yet has your physiotherapy been going badly?”

He heard what sounded like an intentionally loud sigh before Rhodey answered, “No, it's fine. The tech Tony had built to help is amazing and once he can mass produce it, it'll do wonders for helping people everywhere. But I don't have the fine motor control needed for the suits. And I don't have much sensation down there either so if I got badly hurt I might not even realize it.”

“Oh. I'm sorry. Though to be honest I can't believe you let that stop you from going after him now,” Steve didn't mean it as a criticism. He just … well, he knew that Rhodey and Tony were like he and Bucky were. He'd have chased after Bucky.

“No, you're right, I tried to get into one of the armors and it turns out the fucker removed all of my access to them. I can't even open them,” Rhodey sounded so annoyed and so fond that Steve couldn't help but laugh, even though his chest was still tight with fear. Only the people you cared about the most could annoy you that much.

“So what's the plan?” Steve asked. Rhodey deserved his deference. Tony was gone and Rhodey had to feel irritated and useless right now.

“There's a clause in the Accords that lets us plan emergency missions without approval, as long as certain criteria are met. One of those is if one or more members of the Avengers, past or present, are captured by enemy forces. Personally I think the only reason they agreed to that is because of the security risk the Avengers can be, but whatever. Anyway, until Tony is back and safe the UN is backing just about any move I need to make. So I'd like you and anyone you have there that is ready and willing to help to catch a plane to NY,” Rhodey said. Steve was actually rather impressed. He hadn’t thought they’d be able to get something so flexible put into the Accords.

Scott, Clint, and Wanda had left Wakanda shortly after Bucky had gotten frozen again. Clint and Wanda wanted to stay together, but Scott had gone somewhere else. Steve knew that Wanda planned on showing Clint around near Sokovia for a while until things calmed down in the United States, but he wasn’t sure where Scott had gone. Sam was still there, though, and Steve knew T’Challa would help. “Okay. I’m not sure how fast we can be there, but as soon as I know I’ll text you. Keep this phone on you.”

“Will do,” Rhodey said, “And in the meantime I’ll look into the people who took Tony. Hopefully by the time you get here we’ll know where to go when you get here.”

* * *

 

It hadn’t taken as much convincing as Steve thought to get Sam to come. It seemed like a combination of guilt over what happened to Rhodey and gratitude towards Tony for believing Steve and Bucky in the end had both helped make Sam’s decision, as well as his loyalty to Steve. T’Challa’s reasons were his own.

Either way, though, that left them with a solid team and they made it to New York relatively quickly, only to be forced to wait and help Rhodey research to try and figure out who the man who had taken Tony was and where he’d taken him.

Their investigation really didn’t get going until Vision returned from his mission, at which point they were able to easily track the man to a warehouse in Boston. It definitely helped to have someone who was basically a computer on the team.

Rhodey remained basically in charge, communicating with them through the comms from the compound and also contacting local authorities to make sure they knew what was going on, but Steve was in charge of field decisions. He was the one who was not only the best tactician but also knew their strengths and weaknesses the best, and could command them better than anyone else.

But as they prepared to breach the warehouse, Steve felt a thrum of nerves running through him. The warehouse had some kind of shielding around it so it was almost impossible to get a good scan on it, so they had no idea how many people were inside, who they were, or where they were. They had no idea if Tony was still alive, and it had been days. Maybe if they’d worked harder to work things out between them, this wouldn’t have happened. Tony would have had the backup he’d needed and he never would have gotten captured. Steve closed his eyes a moment and took a breath. There was no time to think that way. When he opened them again he was ready to charge into action.

* * *

 

The warehouse was almost completely empty, and had been emptied very recently. There were several computers that looked like they’d had their hard drives ripped out and there was a small fire in a wastebasket where someone’s handwritten notes were literally going up in flames. Sam rushed over to put the fire out and check to see if the notes were salvageable.

“Vision, T’Challa, check every room you can find. I’m going to see if this building has a basement,” Steve said, and they split up to look around. The sinking feeling in Steve’s stomach was just getting worse. Hopefully they’d evacuated too quickly and had forgotten about Tony altogether.

Eventually he found an elevator that led down and took it, holding his shield up and at the ready when he got off. For no real reason - it was deserted down there, too. But there were several doors he could check, and he did so, kicking them in and looking into the rooms. After three of them the room he burst into held Tony, sitting on a cot with heavy manacles on his neck and wrists and wearing some kind of orange jumpsuit. He looked scuffed up a little, like someone had treated him roughly, and his eyes were unfocused, staring off into the distance.

“Tony!” Steve said, relief flooding him. Tony didn’t react at all. Steve frowned and walked towards him, his hand out, “Tony?”

When Tony still didn't react, dread began to claw a pit into his stomach. He touched Tony’s shoulder and then shook him when there was still no reaction.

“What’s going on?” Rhodey asked in his ear, sounding worried.

Right. Steve needed to update the team. Though he needed to be careful calling them ‘the team’ considering this was a temporary thing. “I found him but he’s unresponsive,” Steve said, “I’ll see if I can get him back there.”

“What kind of shape is he in?” Rhodey asked as Steve slung the shield over his back and grabbed Tony’s hand, gently tugging him up. Tony went, and supported his own weight, but didn’t move any more than Steve guided him to.

“There’s some bruising and abrasions. Otherwise he seems okay. I have no idea why he isn’t responding - there’s no reason,” Steve said, looking over Tony’s face and body worriedly.

“You’re sure there’s not some wound under his clothes somewhere?” Rhodey asked, and Steve frowned.

“No, I don’t see any blood or any bandages,” he shook his head, “Is there any reason?”

“I’ll explain it later,” Rhodey said, “Just get back here and we’ll figure out what’s going on.”

* * *

 

By the time they got back to the compound, the bruises and abrasions on Tony’s face and arms were gone. That just made the empty, unseeing look in his eyes all the more disturbing.

“So what’s going on with him?” Steve asked once they got Tony into the infirmary at the compound. Rhodey was there waiting for them, metal braces on his legs. They got him situated on one of the beds, angling it so that the bed was a little reclined but not completely, and got the restraints off of Tony’s neck and wrists.

“He was badly hurt when he was taken. The armor was practically crushed, there was blood everywhere. I don’t know how badly injured he was, but it looked bad. Lethal, or very nearly,” Rhodey explained. “So how is it that he seems completely unharmed? And that his bruises are gone so quickly?”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t have any idea.”

Vision and T’Challa began to run tests, trying to figure out what was wrong with Tony. Eventually Vision said, startled, “His brain chemistry is different. And there are nanites in his blood.”

“Let me see that,” Rhodey said, going over to look at the results that Vision and T’Challa had found. “Shit. Fuck, Tony.”

“What?” Sam asked, glancing at the screen and down at Tony. “What does that mean?”

“Did you read the briefings on Extremis?” Rhodey asked, and Steve paled. That explained the healing, but what would make Tony do that to himself? “Tony’s been tinkering with it ever since … everything. He said he wanted to make it stable, so I wouldn’t have to rely on the braces and I’d be able to go back to flying just like normal. He hasn’t been able to get it really working, but he mentioned the idea of putting it in one of his suits as a last resort safety measure. Something that would activate if he was about to die, because what would he have to lose at that point.”

“So it activated and … went wrong?” Steve asked, reaching out and setting his hand next to Tony’s. He wanted to hold Tony’s hand, but it felt wrong somehow. Inappropriate.

“No, it doesn’t seem to be malfunctioning,” Vision said, shaking his head. “In fact, it seems to be working better than he ever imagined. It’s designed to let him access electronics. He has the ability to connect to the internet with it. Though we can’t tell exactly what he’s doing, his conscious mind appears to be active.”

“It’s very likely that one of two scenarios has occurred. Either when these abilities activated he was swept up in it without realizing it and has gotten lost in them or he tested them out intentionally and hasn’t realized that he’s buried himself in it,” T’Challa said.

“What do we do?” Steve asked. He decided the hell with it and took Tony’s hand, squeezing gently.

“I don’t know,” Vision shook his head and looked at the others, sounding confused.

“I think all we can do is wait,” Rhodey sighed. “Hopefully he snaps out of it soon.”

* * *

 

Steve was starting to get kind of annoyed with phones. It seemed like every time something important happened, he got a damned phone call instead of being there to help or being there in person, like he should have been in the first place. But no, a month after rescuing Tony he got a phone call from Sam - who was the one sitting with Tony, according to their rotational schedule - to tell him that there had been a change.

A change could be good or bad, and because Sam had just told him to get to the infirmary, he had no idea which it was.

He burst through the doors and froze when he saw Tony sitting up in bed, looking tired but smiling and talking. Looking animated and alive.

“Tony!” Steve said, crossing the room in a few strides to hug him.

“Hey, Steve,” Tony said. He started to say something else but Steve cut him off, kissing him firmly. He’d been wanting to do that for a very long time.

 


End file.
